TECHNOLOGY | MATERIALS PREPARATION
Above: Motan- Colortronic’s installation at Mitschke
included two interconnected dry air generators equipped with ETA Plus air volume controls, a dew point control unit and a water cooler for the return air
started with the centralised drying system, then introduced transport and drying at the machines. Motan-Colortronic has also installed new
comprehensive drying facilities as part of a materials conveying system for the production division of German company Mitschke. Following recent expansion, Mitschke now has an annual material throughput of around 4,000 tonnes of different engineering plastics. These plastics include many speciality products comprising up to 30% talc, glass beads, short and long glass fibres with a fibre content of up to 50%. The company operates 17 injection moulding machines with clamping forces of 450-32,000 kN in two produc- tion halls. Its product range comprises technical parts for agricultural machinery and automotive manufacturers, for both exteriors and interiors, enclosures, panels and large fans. The weights of the injection-moulded parts range from 25-30,000 g and are produced at cycle times of 25-240 seconds. Moulded part dimensions of up to 1,800 × 1,800 mm are possible. As a result of the expansion, Mitschke decided
to revamp its material conveying system, including material loaders, decentralised and central drying systems, as well as the conveying system used to supply the machine park with material. In addition, Mitschke decided that the dust created by the highly filled materials needed to be contained and that the system should be more energy efficient. The machines are supplied by 12 external silos as well as a twin-design big bag station specially designed by Motan-Colortronic. In collaboration the companies designed a
central drying system with two Luxor A900 dry air generators, as well as six Luxorbin drying hoppers with a capacity of 1,800 litres each, installed on a specially designed platform. The new system also included an ETA Plus air volume control, a dew
46 INJECTION WORLD | March 2019
point control unit and a water cooler for the regeneration air. One of the two dry air generators comprised an existing one rather than new one. This generator was connected to a new controlled drying unit, with an air performance of 30-100%, depending on the current throughput or demand rate which supplies the drying hoppers with dry air. Connecting this unit required a number of changes to be made to the control technology and the associated piping. The overall design is such that it can be expanded by additional dry air generators and drying hoppers. The system is located centrally between the two halls, allowing material to be fed into the system on a demand basis. The drying system’s control system has been integrated into the company’s network and can be centrally monitored by the production management. The process air is controlled by the ETA Plus
system, which analyses and controls both the individual process air requirements of the individu- al drying hoppers, as well as that of the entire system. This means that each drying hopper is only supplied with the amount of dry air needed to achieve and maintain the required material conditions. If the control system detects that the material in the hopper has been fully dried, it will reduce the flow rate, heat output and the total air output. This ensures that the system will always operate at its optimum performance level. The integrated Drying Organizer automatically detects drops in the material throughput rate and gradually reduces the drying temperature to the optimum stand-by parameters. This again saves energy and protects the material from thermal damage. ProTec Polymer Processing has developed the
Somos Perfoamer equipment for the Plastinum foam moulding process (see page 31 for more information). ProTec’s innovation includes all the components for drying and temperature adjusting polymer pellets, loading them with carbon dioxide under pressure and then feeding them to the injection moulding machine, which generally requires no modification.
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
www.conairgroup.com �
www.summitsystems.co.uk �
www.maguire.com �
www.eisbaer.at �
www.wittmann-group.com �
www.moretto.com �
www.marcagroup.it �
www.motan-colortronic.com �
www.mitschke-kunststoffwerk.de �
www.piovan.com
www.injectionworld.com
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